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July 2025

July 08, 2025

A Faith Cheapened by Fear

Jeanne was away for most of the last ten days with her sister in Brooklyn...

September 2024

September 06, 2024

First Day of Class Dreams and Nightmares

Last Tuesday was the first day of classes on my campus for the 2024-25 academic...

February 2024

February 20, 2024

The Difference Between Pardoning and Forgiveness

On this day after Presidents Day I'm thinking about a specific power that presidents uniquely...

November 2023

November 22, 2023

I Don’t Think That Parable Means What You Think It Means

Simone Weil once observed in a notebook entry that “the stories of miracles complicate everything.”...

August 2023

August 03, 2023

Did He Walk On the Water or Didn’t He?

The summer Sunday gospel readings annually are full of Jesus' greatest hits, including feeding the...

June 2023

June 24, 2023

How to Be the Resurrection

Lead on King Eternal, the day of march has come Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy...

April 2023

April 23, 2023

Jesus, Cleopas, and Bob have a Conversation about Hope

“Now abide faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” These words...

March 2023

March 14, 2023

There is a God, But I Do Not Believe In Him

Starting thise week I am the up front person in both of my team-taught courses...

February 2023

February 26, 2023

To Whom Shall I Bow Down?

Today is the first Sunday of Lent; the gospel reading is Matthew's account of Jesus’...

July 2022

July 18, 2022

Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream

I’ve been thinking a lot about end of life issues lately. Really. They seem to...

July 02, 2022

On Independence Day, Be Glad that the United States is Not a Christian Nation

Christianity, or any branch of it, loses its Christian character when its self-proclaimed supporters outnumber...

June 2022

June 21, 2022

So You Want to be Free? Face your Demons

Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite philosophers and novelists, a writer whose work is...

May 2022

May 21, 2022

Some Advice for the Graduating Seniors: Don’t Forget About the Room at the Back of your Shop

Today is Commencement Day for the Class of 2022 at my college. Commencement is always...

April 2022

April 15, 2022

Actually, He Died: A Good Friday Meditation

Several Christmas Eves ago, Jeanne, Justin and I were invited to share dinner with a...

March 2022

March 15, 2022

The God Who is With Us and Forsakes Us

This week in my "Faith and Doubt" seminar we are encountering Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of...

December 2021

December 09, 2021

A Cosmic Homecoming

Baptist preacher’s kids get to do some very odd things. I memorized large portions of...

November 2021

November 02, 2021

The Tweet of God

As is the case with many of the things in my life, my knowledge of...

August 2021

August 14, 2021

The Coronavirus and End Times

Sometimes various elements of real life align in unexpected ways. In the Spring semester of...

July 2021

July 24, 2021

When Jesus Takes a Walk

The summer Sunday gospel readings annually are full of Jesus' greatest hits--this year is no...

June 2021

June 17, 2021

Faith Is About Asking the “What If?” Questions

In Lies We Believe Abut God, Wm. Paul Young (author of The Shack) tells the story of...

May 2021

May 02, 2021

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear–or so we’re told

After the mass shooting in a Colorado grocery store a few weeks ago, a woman...

April 2021

April 18, 2021

Surely, I have Set My Soul in Silence and in Peace

It has been thirteen months since our lives changed in ways that we will never...

March 2021

March 02, 2021

Hitler, Trump, and the Golden Calf

In one of my seminars a week or so ago, my students and I considered...

February 2021

February 04, 2021

The Best of 2020 #1: The Coronavirus, the Apocalypse, and The Book of Revelation

It is not surprising, given what 2020 was like, that the most viewed post on...

January 2021

January 24, 2021

Dealing With Our Inner Nazi

We ought not to hide from ourselves that Nazi Germany is a mirror for all...

January 21, 2021

The Best of 2020 #3: Why are Christians So Angry and Fearful?

Coming in at #3 in my "Best of 2020" blog post lineup is "Why are...

January 14, 2021

The Best of 2020 #4: I am a Liberal Because I am a Christian

Coming in at #4 in my list of my top blog posts of 2020, judged...

November 2020

November 14, 2020

Don’t Make Me Come Down There

As is the case with many of the things in my life, my knowledge of...

November 03, 2020

It’s Election Day: What’s the Worst that Could Happen?

In 1969, Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge released the single 'Worst That Could Happen"—it...

September 2020

September 03, 2020

Love is the Discovery of Reality: A Story About Learning to See Things Differently

Iris Murdoch was one of the philosophers whose work was front and center in my...

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